The Sheik is a 1919 novel by Edith Maude Hull, an English novelist of the early twentieth century. It was the first of a series of novels she wrote with desert settings that set off a major revival of the "desert romance" genre of romantic fiction. It was a huge bestseller and the most popular of her books, and it served as the basis for the film of the same name starring Rudolph Valentino in the title role.